Door jamb setting clamp



Sept. 17, 1957 A. H. MERKLE ET AL DOOR JAMB SETTING CLAMP 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 29. 1954 F/G. i.

F/G- a.

INVENTORS WILL/4M I. WOLFF" A rraewzvs.

.Sept. 17, 1957 A. H. MERKLE ETAL DOOR JAMB SETTING CLAMP- 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 29, 1954 FIG. 4.

' INVENTORS WOLF'F',

United States Patent noon JAMB SETTING CLAMP 4 August H. Merkle, New Haven, and William A. Wolif, Fort Wayne, Ind.

Application October 29, 1954, Serial No. 465,534

1 Claim. (Cl. 144-299) The present invention relates to clamps for spacing and holding parts of door jambs while they are being installed within a frame of a building.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a door jamb setting clamp to be used to hold the side frame pieces in parallelism and with their edges in a common plane while the frame pieces are being shimmed up and attached to the frame on each side of a door opening.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a door jamb setting clamp which is adjustable for each of the common sizes of doors and has special adjusting means for accommodating door frames which receive odd-sized doors.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a door jamb setting clamp which has a plate at each end for placing in abutting relation with the inner face of the side frame pieces of a door jamb, and also has a plate projecting outwardly from the end for placing in position with the side edge of the side frame pieces in order that the side frame pieces be held in parallelism and with their side edges in a single plane.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a clamping device for holding in spaced apart parallel position a pair of frame pieces while they are being secured by nailing or other means within the opening of a frame construction.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be fully apparent from the following description when considered in connection with the annexed drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a side view in elevation of the present invention in use between and attached to the side frame pieces of a door jamb,

Figure 2 is a top plan view,

Figure 3 is an end View partially in cross section on line 3-3 of Figure 1,

Figure 4 is a top view in cross section on line 4-4 of Figure 3,

Figure 5 is a side view partially in cross section on line 5-5 of Figure 2,

Figure 6 is a detailed view partly in cross section on line 66 of Figure 4, and

Figure 7 is a detailed view partly in cross section on line 7-7 of Figure 5.

Referring in greater detail to the drawing in which like numerals indicate like parts throughout the several views, the invention is seen to consist of an elongated spacing bar 10 which may be telescoped or extended and is composed of a square tube 11 having a square bar 12 slidable therein. A short section of a square tube 13 is secured to one side of the tube 11 and is formed with a slot 14 through which one end of the adjusting bolt 15 projects. A hand wheel 16 is connected to the one end of the bolt 15 for turning the bolt 15 threadedly through the block 17 and into and out of the notches 18.

An upstanding boss 19 is provided with a threaded 2,806,495 Patented Sept. 17, 1957 2 hole 20 in which is screwed the locking bolt 21 which engages by one end the grooved intermediate section 22 of a bolt 23 which is also threadedly received in the block 17. The bolt 23 has a square end 24 for receiving a wrench in order to adjusta-bly position the block 17 within the tube 13, which in turn adjusts the extended length of the spacing bar 10.

A plate 25 is secured to the end of the tube 11 remote from the adusting bolt 15 and is disposed transversely with respect to the tube 11. A similar plate 26 is secured to the free end of the bar 12 in parallel face-toface spaced relation with respect to the plate 25. On a nonconfronting face of each of the plates 25 and 26, a U-shaped member 27 and 28, respectively, is secured by the ends of its legs and perpendicular to the associated one of the plates 25 or 26.

The U-shaped members 27 and 28 are positioned adjacent to the same and adjacent ends of the plates 25 and 26, respectively, which plates are also formed with a slot 29 at the same end in which slides one end of a clamping member 30. The clamping member 20 is L-shaped, and has its longer leg 31 extending substantially parallel to the nonconfronting face of its associated plate 25 or 26.

As seen most clearly in Figure 4, a threaded bolt 32 has its free end peened over as indicated at 33 to form a connection with the long leg 31 of the clamping member 30 in order that the clamping member 30 may be drawn toward and away from the associated plate 25 or 26 upon rotation of the hand wheel 34 which is threadedly engaged on the other end of the bolt 32.

The long leg 31 of the clamping member 30 is movable within the bight of the U-shaped member 27 and is biased by the spring 35 to move outwardly. Another spring 36 is between the plate 25 and the hand wheel 34 and each of the springs 35 and 36 are compressed to move the bolt 32 through the oblong hole 37 when the hand wheel is turned to tighten the clamping member 30.

In use, bar 12 is pulled out of the tube 11 until the adjusting bolt 15 fits by its pointed end into the proper notches 18, there being indicia upon the bar 12 (not shown) to indicate the common widths of the doors for which the side frame pieces are to be positioned. The clamping members 30 on each end of the spacing bar 10 are then secured along the edges of the side frame pieces with each of the plates 25 and 26 in abutting relation with the inner faces of the side frame pieces, indicated in Figure 1 in dotted lines by the reference numeral 40, and in Figure 2 in cross section by the reference numeral 40'.

The side frame pieces then have their adjacent side edges in a single plane and have their faces parallel so that after they are secured within the frame of an opening, and properly shimmed up, a door of the proper dimension hung between them will have proper clearance, top and bottom and suitable door stops (not shown) can then be fastened to the side frame pieces to complete the erection.

While only a single embodiment of the present invention has been shown and described, it is believed that other embodiments may be made and practiced within the scope of the appended claim without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

A clamp for positioning the side frame pieces of a door jamb comprising a tube, a bar slidable within said tube and extending from one end of said tube, a pair of plates disposed transversely one at the other end of said tube and the other 'at the end of the extending bar in parallel face to face spaced relation with respect to each other, each of said plates being adapted to abut one of the side frame pieces of a door jamb on the inner face thereof for positioning said pieces in parallelism, a 'U-shaped member projecting normally from the nonconfronting face of each of said plates adjacent one end thereof and being connected by its legs to the respective plate, a clamp member disposed on the nonconfronting face of each of said plates and extending through the b ight of ':said U- shaped member and operatively connected to said plate for movement toward and away from the respective plate for detachably clamping said pieces on adjacent-edges thereof with said plates in abutting relation with the inner faces of said pieces, and means carried by said tube adjacent said one end of thelatter and selectively engageable-with means formed on said bar for adjustably extending said bar from said tube.

References Cited in the file of this "patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,058,882 McCauley Apr. 15, 1913 1,288,112 .Minnis Dec. 17, 1918 1,564,642 Symons Dec. 8, 1925 1,631,355 Baldwin June 7, 1927 2,176,772 Smith et a1. "Oct. 17, 1939 2,216,858 Steinbrink Oct. 8, 1940 2,271,616 Beale Feb. 3, 1942 2,599,010 Pernitz June 3, 1952 

